Mangais Golf Estate – Pousada Wembele (Day 29)

13 June 2019

Distance: 337km Distance to date: 6353km

Road Conditions: (out of 10)

Coffee, Tea, Rusks

Snacks

Grilled fish, French Fries, Vegetables

We struggled a little bit with water this morning, it seems there was something wrong with the pumps because everywhere we went on the Golf Estate there was no water. We went to say goodbye to Mr. Francisco, but we assume he was too busy trying to sort out the problem. Sofia tried to reach him, and ordered us some coffee and tea while we wait. Dad and I enjoyed an espresso each, and Mom drank a Lemongrass tea. After some minutes, Mr. Francisco had still not arrived, so we left and phoned him instead to say thank you and goodbye.

We stopped at Carpe Diem Lodge, also another place that Mom and Dad had visited in 2014. It’s a beautiful lodge on the beach with cozy wooden huts nestled under many trees, a gorgeous restaurant on the deck and a swimming pool. We spent a few minutes here taking photos and enjoying the scenery. Mom and Dad tried to find out if the Lodge’s owner from back in 2014 was still here but unfortunately he wasn’t, and the Lodge was under new ownership.

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Instead of driving back out to the tar road, Dad followed a dirt path that led up into the hills. It was a bit of a scary road, with one part that had the bakkie leaning quite far (I must also say – it always feels much worse from inside. If you look at everything from outside, it doesn’t look bad at all).

We followed the trail until we could go no further, to the bottom of a hill. Dad climbed the hill to first see if we could carry on driving and found that we couldn’t, so we climbed up the hill ourselves and enjoyed the view.

We could see Surfers Beach from the top of the hill – a bay that continuously has six or seven swells and waves that makes for perfect surfing. We drove back all the way to the tar road, and turned in to the road toward Surfers Beach to go and have a closer look. There are some cabins up on the hill close to Surfers Beach that have not opened yet, it sounded like these were part of Carpe Diem lodge.

Down on the beach, it was relatively quiet. There is a small restaurant that was closed, and many surfboards that you can rent. There is also a surf school, but it was closed.

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We drove on, heading toward Binga Bay, but knowing we would have to spend the night on the road before we could reach it. We set the GPS on Pousada Wembele, which was more or less in the middle. A few kilometres before the hotel, we took the turn off to go to Binga Waterfall.

Dad and Mom were also here in 2014 and wanted to show the waterfall to me. They told me about Mango, whom they had met previously, and how they had given him a Bible. Lo and behold, when we reached the waterfall, which was Cashueira Waterfall in 2014, Mango was still there!

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We said hello to him and tried to explain that Mom and Dad were there and eventually he seemed to remember. This was the first instance that Mom and Dad found someone that they had met before.

We spent some time walking around, the area had improved in the last few years – it now had a small kiosk and many tables and chairs. Mom gave Mango some dried mango and we were once again on our way.

Just after the turn off to the waterfall the road ended and we had to use a dirt road running next to it.

We found Pousada Wembele on iOverlander, some of the travellers have stayed on the beach in front of the hotel, but after enquiring about prices we decided it would be much better if we stayed in one of the rooms instead. We also enjoyed a great meal in their restaurant. A meal, a hot shower, and a place to sleep, all for less than R500 for three people – what a bargain!

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